I love my hair, but we can't seem to get along.

November 2, 2007 7:41 AM

My hair and I, we are having a disagreement. I want to wash it at night, and it wants to look like crap the next day.

So I did some color - magenta, actually, and of course that means washing at the roots with cold water. I want to do this at night, becuase doing a cold water wash in the morning is No Fun. What I'm running into is that my hair, which is waist length at its longest point, and is monofilament fine, is going oily on me. I'm used to that at the END of the day, or really over a day and a half, but not after ~8 hours. Cornstarch or powder, as previously discussed for these issues, isn't really an option because it will deaden the pink and also look a bit powdered wig-esque against the color (tried it). I'm considering sleeping in foam rollers, as my hair does not hold curl without Extraordinary Measures - I think that would keep it from dying next to my scalp.

Other suggestions? Experiences? Also of note - my hair rats up at a moment's notice. When I was washing it normally in the morning, I'd use Bed Head After Party, or Rockstar+Headrush. A small amount of After Party is OK but not great in this scenario (I mean 1/4 of what I'd use normally) and Rockstar+Headrush is a disaster.

posted by Medieval Maven to clothing, beauty, & fashion (16 comments total)

Can't help with the oiliness, although I feel your pain. However, what about braiding it before going to bed? I used to do that when I had longish hair and it is much more comfortable than rollers and gives it a nice wavy effect.
posted by MsElaineous at 7:45 AM on November 2, 2007

"I think that would keep it from dying next to my scalp."

That should have been "drying" - I'm not concerned about DYING my scalp. It's fine. Carry on.
posted by Medieval Maven at 7:49 AM on November 2, 2007

What are you using to actually *wash* your hair - or are you going the 'no-poo' route? Sounds like product over-kill. Is it just the roots going oily or the entire length going icky?

I know that I have to switch up my shampoo/conditioner routine every few washes otherwise it just doesn't seem to work anymore.

Also, how often are you changing your pillowcase?
posted by dancinglamb at 7:57 AM on November 2, 2007

This MAY have the same effect as the powder you mentioned, but I recently purchased some Oscar Blandi "dry shampoo," and it's great for zapping oily roots the morning after I shampoo. There are two forms, a powder and a spray, and the spray really leaves no noticeable residue if you spray a fine mist. It's a little pricey but worth it IMO. It's available at Sephora.
posted by Ruby Doomsday at 8:16 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

You may already be doing so, but don't condition the roots. Condition the ends but leave the roots alone. I have oily roots after a wash and a night's sleep also.

I do this when I don't want to wash hair in the morning:

Wash hair at night, let air dry until slightly damp.

Blow dry and use a big round brush to smooth everything out. If I go to bed with a wet head, it's frizz city. I wouldn't use any styling products in the evening before bed, especially at the roots. If your ends tend to escape the oiliness, you may want to use a little finishing cream to tame the frizz.

Sleep in a loose braid.

In the morning, blowdry and style with the brush again. Finish with a dab more finishing cream and a little more hairspray.

If the hairline is still looking greasy I will soak a cotton ball with a mild toner or astringent and pat into the hairline. Use caution with your color. I've also been known to wash just the hairline at the forehead in the sink with shampoo.

I love this John Frieda finishing creme. It's one of the few beauty products that I'm loyal to. It isn't greasy. It can work on any hair color, since it doesn't deposit any color whatsoever.
posted by LoriFLA at 8:17 AM on November 2, 2007

From my experiences as someone with long hair who prefers washing it at night...

Foam rollers aren't all they're cracked up to be. They inevitably unroll somewhat during the night and give your hair a weird quality. Sometimes the bar that's meant to keep them from moving would press into the hair in the front and leave visible lines. And sometimes they pull uncomfortably during the night too.

I got my best results from using plastic rollers on top, pinned in five places per roller (top & bottom on both sides and pinned to the next roller), and the foam ones in the back, so that I would have something borderline comfortable to sleep on. Then if it wants to look weird in the back it doesn't matter, because the top part will cover it up.

If you don't have a silk (or fake silk) pillowcase, get one. It's a lot harder for your hair to cling to it during the night, so it won't end up looking so much like a crow's nest in the morning.
posted by zebra3 at 8:18 AM on November 2, 2007

A silk sleeping cap would help too, although it looks dorky.
posted by sweetkid at 8:56 AM on November 2, 2007

I have long hair that I wash at night and the key for me is to put in a very loose pony tail, like gather it up way down on the length, and then pull it all behind me, to the point of flipping it kind of underneath the headboard. This allows it to not get all matty and gross.

I also don't condition at all at night and put in a leave in conditioner in the morning if i need too.
posted by stormygrey at 9:17 AM on November 2, 2007

The oiliness may be because nightly washing on top of the dye makes your scalp drier than usual which in turn makes it freak out and produce more oil. You might try skipping shampoo and just using conditioner every other day if you're not already doing the shampoo-free thing like dancinglamb said.

(My tricks for decent hair after washing at night are putting a little jojoba oil on it while it's wet and sleeping with it loose, but pulling it up above my head so it hangs off the top edge of my pillow and most of it is away from my scalp. YMMV especially with oil; I've got curly hair that tends toward dry ends.)
posted by clavicle at 9:25 AM on November 2, 2007

First, are you using a lot of shampoo? Often if you use a good deal of shampoo your hair starts overproducing oil to compensate.

Is it oily just at the roots, or at the tips as well? If it's just at the roots, when you're washing it pinch small bits of your hair at the roots and draw the oils up through the hair. When it's dry, use a boar bristle brush to distribute the oils evenly throughout it. Make sure you're still conditioning the ends, though.

To deal with the crows nest, before bed very gently comb it out, first with your fingers, then with a wide-toothed comb. Then put it in a loose braid. When I had super long hair that helped me when I remembered to do it.
posted by schroedinger at 9:32 AM on November 2, 2007

My scalp/hair is oily, and for me, finding the perfect shampoo for me is what helps with the oil slick. I use Kiehl's Protein Concentrate for Oily Hair, and it's the best shampoo I've found so far in terms of limiting oil- I can go closer to 48 hours without washing, compared to other champoos where I go oily in 24.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:53 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm using BedHead Self Absorbed. Until now, it's been the perfect shampoo, and I'm using not a lot of it at all. It may be the conditioning at the roots thing - because my hair rats up like nobody's business I probably am in the habit of over conditioning. She didn't actually bleach my hair to get the color in - I'm blonde anyway, and it was just two (large-ish sections). Since I'm yammering on about it, I suppose I might show you a photo.
posted by Medieval Maven at 10:40 AM on November 2, 2007

I would try switching up shampoos (even if you do it for two weeks, you'd be surprised at the results), and definitely keep the conditioner away from the roots. The easiest way for me to remind myself is to keep the conditioner going only from my ears down. Yes, I need to remind myself. Life has become that pathetic.
posted by dancinglamb at 11:09 AM on November 2, 2007

I too have super fine oily-tending hair. I cannot wash my hair at night, end of story. I have, however trained my hair to be ok with the washing every other day, so it produces less oil between washings now.

It looks great, your hair.
posted by bilabial at 5:11 PM on November 2, 2007

I've got Virgin Rose in my hair right now, too. Yay!

Anyway, I've discovered the trick to keeping my hair clean AND colourful--I only wash every other day. Yeah, I'm serious. After a few kind of icky days, my scalp suddenly realized it had to stop being so gross... and my hair's never been cleaner, and the colour's stayed pretty for well over a month.
posted by rhoticity at 7:10 PM on November 2, 2007

I'm probably going to try a lot of stuff mentioned in this thread, starting with "don't condition the roots." Last night, no conditioner at the roots - this morning, my hair and I are friends again. We'll see if it lasts.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:55 AM on November 3, 2007